Algiers will Vote on a 6.35 mill Renewal; West Jefferson will Vote on a 5.5 mill Increase for Operations, Maintenance, Repairs, Rehabilitation and Replacement of Levees and Structures this November

MARRERO – (Sept. 16, 2015) – Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, the organization created to reform the old levee board system following Hurricane Katrina, has endorsed the upcoming millage proposal from the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – West (SLFPA-W) that will appear on the Nov. 21 ballot in Algiers and West Jefferson.

“This professionally developed flood authority was a direct result of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans’ efforts in 2006, and we have watched its growth over the last decade,” said Ruthie Frierson, founder of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans. “These proposed millages for Algiers and West Jefferson meet our stringent criteria for hurricane protection in the post-Katrina era, and we hope local voters will support them.”

SLFPA-W is responsible for operating and maintaining flood protection in what is now the first complete system on the West Bank, and the November ballot will include proposals for Algiers and West Jefferson to generate funds to maintain the newly improved hurricane protection system in the most heavily populated areas of the West Bank.

Algiers voters will determine the fate of a proposition to renew 6.35 mills for 30 years, and West Jefferson voters will decide whether to raise 5.5 mills for 30 years. If approved, these funds will be used on extensive flood protection that will enable residents and businesses to maintain flood insurance.

SLFPA-W President Susan H. Maclay said the support from Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans is a tremendous boost to the prospects for the proposed measures.

“We are gratified by this support. Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans was at the forefront of reform efforts to take politics out of levee boards. Our existence as a professionally driven organization was a result of the efforts or Ruthie Frierson and her members. Their organization recognized that on the West Bank there is no comparison betweenthis new system and anything before it in history,” said Maclay. “Prior to Katrina, most of the West Bank levees were substandard and nonexistent. The $4 billion investment in creating new levees and flood control structures has literally given us a wall of protection that never existed. Now, our challenge is centered on operations, maintenance, repairs, rehabilitation and replacement of our system, including flood control structures and levees.”

For updates and additional information, please visit the SLFPA-W website at www.slfpaw.org, “like” SLFPA-W on Facebook and follow SFLPA-W on Twitter.

About the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – West (SLFPA-W)

The mission of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – West is to protect the citizens and businesses of the West Bank of the greater New Orleans area in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes from hurricanes and riverine flooding by inspecting, operating and maintaining the integrity of our levees, floodwalls and floodgates. It is composed of two levee districts: the West Jefferson Levee District in Jefferson Parish and the Algiers Levee District in Orleans Parish. The Authority has jurisdiction over 80 miles of levees in the most populated areas of the West Bank of Jefferson Parish and in all of Orleans Parish on the West Bank, including 47 miles of levees that are part of the Hurricane and Storm Damage

Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) and 33 miles of Mississippi River levees. Since 2006, all of the Authority’s levees and floodwalls have been improved for the protection of residents in south Louisiana. For more information, visit www.slfpaw.org.